Its hard to find much information on Henry Bugbee Kane. The illustrator who lived from 1902-1971 provided some of the best illustrations to editions of outdoor classics like Thoreau’s Walden and The Maine Woods, along with other classics like Cache Lake Country by John Rowlands.

While you might have copies of these books already, if you find an edition with Mr. Kane’s illustrations its worth picking up, there isn’t a collection of just his prints out there…yet.

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Found “The Tale of a Pond”, Henry B. Kane, at a local used book sale. Borzoi Nature Study Books 1960 hardback cloth covered edition. Exquisite illustrations by Kane. Rich, poetic prose. My 5 yr hold son begs me to reread this book over and over again so he can “visit” the pond. I am looking for other Kane books, …Tale of Meadow, Tale of Woods and so forth, but no luck so far. Happened on your blog while googling around, thanks for the pics. I will definitely hang onto my found treasure! Someone should do a bio on Kane with collection of illustrations, seems like new territory, which is rare these days.

Henry Bugbee Kane lived in Lincoln, MA for many years. Perhaps his daughter, Electa Kane Tritsch, could provide some information (or even be encouraged to bring out of a collection of her father’s work). She writes on New England history and environment.

Many years ago I bought the Thoreau ‘trilogy’ of books by Bramhall House. ‘The Maine Woods’, published 1950, ‘Walden’ and ‘Cape Cod’ both published 1951. I still have these books and I have taken a late-in-life (I’m 61) interest in drawing. The drawings of Henry Bugbee Kane add so much atmosphere to the brilliant writing of Thoreau. I am attempting, with limited success, to draw some of his illustrations
I have never known anything about Henry Bugbee Kane and would be interested in finding out about his life. It’s a pity he never met Thoreau as I’m sure Thoreau would have appreciated him highlighting his writings.
Dennis O’Hara
Orange, NSW Australia

[…] artwork is searchable, finding biographical information on Henry Bugbee Kane is fairly difficult. The Wildwood brought this lack to light back in 2011 with some beautiful examples of Kane’s work and […]